Himeyuri Cenotaph, War memorial in Itoman, Japan

Himeyuri Cenotaph is a war memorial in Itoman, Japan, erected over a former cave where students and medical staff took shelter during the Battle of Okinawa. The monument bears engraved inscriptions and stands within a site that recalls the civilian losses that occurred here in the spring of 1945.

The cenotaph was unveiled on 7 April 1946 at the site of the Third Surgical Cave of the Okinawa Army Hospital. Of the 240 students and staff of the Himeyuri Student Corps mobilized on 24 March 1945, 136 died: 123 students and 13 staff. On the morning of 19 June 1945, 87 of the 96 people in the Third Surgical Cave were killed.

The name combines the school magazines "Otohime" of the First Higher Girls' School and "Shirayuri" of the Okinawa Normal School women's division; written in kanji before 1945, it has appeared in hiragana since the war. Soldiers rarely used the name, calling the students simply gakuto or "students". The adjacent Himeyuri Peace Museum opened in 1989 and was fully renovated on 23 June 2009.

The site is located at the southern end of Okinawa and is easiest to reach by car or bus. A nearby museum offers additional context and opens from morning until late afternoon, though access to the outdoor grounds is free.

Nearby stands the entrance to the original cave that served as shelter and is now closed to visitors. You can still trace remains of fortifications and paths around the monument that recall the rapid evacuation and danger of those final days.